I arrived in Sydney a few weeks ago, and have set-up home here in the beautiful surf spot of Manly. The boyfriend has a job over here so we’ve decided to give living by the sea a go and enjoy not having to drive for three hours to find some waves – like we do back in Scotland! So far I haven’t spotted any killer wildlife, but I think it doesn’t do to be complacent – especially as one of the first news stories I read about here involved a sea-lion attack with a surfer.

The surfer in question was a 13 year old girl from Western Australia who was attacked by a sea-lion while out surfing, she was bitten in the neck and ended up in hospital with a nasty gash and missing some teeth. Strewth.

Everyone I talk to here seems to have a shark story to share, the local chippy even has a picture of a 5ft shark being eaten by an even bigger shark. I visited the local aquarium to check out the real deal, which I’m not sure was the best idea, cos it just proved to me that sharks will eat anything – they even separated the baby shark from the big sharks in case they ate it.

Anyway, I’ve decided not to let the fear of the highly unlikely get in the way of improving my surfing, (I have also been told there is more chance of Scotland winning the world cup, but let’s not get hysterical). I’ve been in the water as much as possible since we got here and I even managed a pre-work morning surf last week, which at the time felt like it might kill me but was worth it for the sunrise alone.

Nearly everyone here is an early riser, I thought that getting up at 6am the beach would be really quiet – not the case – everyone here tends to hit the beach before they go to work since it’s dark by the time they get home. Loads of oldies hit the beach for a morning swim, along with the joggers and the personal trainers. I’m slowly getting the hang of the Australian working-day time-frame but I’m still really struggling with the 10pm bedtime – and Neighbours is no match for Corrie.

Lorna x